Linguistics
by Blue Blood Beauty
Summary: When Ivan is assigned to help a student at his school who can only speak Chinese, he finds himself becoming closer to the boy than he expected. Ivan slowly learns that relationships are made with more than words. Oneshot.


**I had to do some research on the topic of language barriers and how far your relationship can develop with someone who speaks a different language for this fic. Turns out there are instances of people falling in love and eventually getting married who can't speak the same language. How cute is that? I don't know if there are programs like the one I made Ivan's school have, but this is a work of fiction, so his school has one.**

* * *

Ivan had never planned on joining the Lingual Partners Program. If he had a choice in the matter Ivan would have refused. Unfortunately for him, he was born in Russia and spoke Russian as fluently as English. All bilingual students' parents received a note recommending they join the LPP. Once the note got into the hands of Ivan's mother there was no way she would let him refuse. "It's a way to make friends! You need more friends!" she said to Ivan when she signed the forum. It didn't manage to convince Ivan though.

The LPP is a program that Ivan's high school started in order to help new students who can not speak english. Each foreign student is assigned a bilingual partner who is to help them around an act as a friend. Ivan found it to be a pain though.

Only four people signed up; him and three Spanish speaking students. They were called to wait in the main office and be assigned a student. Ivan knew the Spanish students will go quickly; the area they live in had a heavy Spanish population. A Russian student transferring to this area was rare and unlikely, so Ivan hoped he wouldn't be assigned to anyone.

Just as He predicted, three foreign student of Spanish decent were escorted to a person in the program. The teacher explained some things, the students greeted their partner in Spanish, then they left for first period.

A teacher approached Ivan and asked, "Excise me sir, which language do you speak?"

"Russian." he replied.

The comment made the teacher seem slightly distressed. "Oh dear, the student's we have left don't speak Russian."

"That's too bad. Guess I won't be assigned anyone." Ivan said, the sadness in his voice was obviously false.

"No, wait right here." she said before walking out briefly.

Ivan could hear two people arguing outside the office. It was two teachers and by what Ivan could hear, they were debating on what to do with one of their students.

_"But he can't speak Chinese! What's the use?"_

"He already signed up for this program! Besides, giving him Yao is better than Yao having no one!"

Ivan rolled his eyes. Turns out he couldn't get out of this program so easily.

The woman entered the room again, this time with a boy behind her. He was obviously Asian and had long black hair tied into a low ponytail draped over his shoulder. Ivan found his eyes to be one of his most striking features. Though they were small, they were a light brown that was almost golden in color. They managed to compliment his other features perfectly.

"Ivan, this is Yao Wang You're going to be assigned to him." the teacher said. She pushed Yao towards Ivan with some unnecessary strength. Yao stumbled towards Ivan but kept his balance.

"So you're assigning me to some Chinese guy even though I can't speak any Chinese?" Ivan raised a brow.

"It's all we can do. No one who speaks Chinese signed up for this and you're the only person left. It won't be too bad though. Yao knows some English. He can say simple sentences. Introduce your self!"

Ivan stared at Yao to get the others attention. "My name is Ivan Braginsky. I-VAN BRA-GIN-SKY." He said slow enough for Yao to hear every word.

"My name is Yao Wang. Nice to meet you." Yao replied. His voice had a thick accent to it. Ivan had an accent as well, but it was Russian and not as thick. It had been a whole lot worse when Ivan had first moved from Russia.

The teacher handed Yao his schedule (with Chinese characters on it) and gave Ivan an English copy.

"Please escort Yao around the school. Most classes should be the same as yours but a few are different."

Ivan grabbed Yao's arm and begrudgingly pulled him out of the office.

Needless to say, Ivan was not happy with the change of plans. Being stuck in this program was one thing, but being assigned someone who barely spoke _any_ English or Russian was another. How in the world did they expect him to help Yao if they couldn't understand each other?

Yao seemed to be uneasy as well. He expected to have someone to talk to but instead he received some big guy who couldn't communicate with him.

Yao was supposed to learn English but decided against it. He never thought his father would be relocated to America. When Yao received the news that they were moving he only had three months to learn as much English as possible. Three months were not enough to learn a whole new language, so now he was stuck being unable to understand anything around him.

Ivan came to a sudden stop and Yao instinctively stopped with him.

"This is our first class." said Ivan. Yao tried to pick out words in the sentence he knew.

"I forgot you can't understand me." Ivan sighed, "Class. There." he pointed to the door of the class in front of them. Yao nodded to show he understood. Ivan opened the door for Yao to enter than walked in behind him.

* * *

"How was school Ivan?" Ivan's mother asked once her son walked in their house. Ivan dropped his backpack on the couch before he replied.

"It was okay."

"How was the extange student?"

Ivan frowned, "I was assigned some guy who can only speak Chinese!"

"What? Why?" His mother asked.

"I was the only one available! What an unorganized program!"

"I'm sorry..." she paused for a moment to think. "would you like to be taken out of the program?"

Her response was a shock to Ivan. Ivan would love to be taken our, but what would Yao do? Yao stayed with him throughout the whole day even though they couldn't understand each other. He seemed to have warmed up to Ivan's presence during the course of the day which not many people were able to do. Another reason was Ivan found Yao to be great eye candy but he tried not to think of that topic for to long.

"No I'll stay."he replied.

"Are you sure? You didn't even want to join in the first place."

"I'm sure, it can't be that bad."

"Oh Ivan, you're such a good child!" his mother grinned from ear to ear.

Good child? What a lie! Ivan knew better but he said thanks just to please his mother.

* * *

Ivan and Yao stuck together the next day as well. They sat together in class and Yao tried his best to help Ivan with his homework-Math only because the other classes required writing in English. Yao could read anyone like a book, so he was able to tell when Ivan didn't understand a problem. He would demonstrate the equations in the corner of Ivan's paper whenever he was stuck.

The odd pair sat with each other at lunch as well. Though they couldn't say any more than simple sentenced to each other, they managed to form a friendship.

A friendship made without words.

Even after a few months these habits continued. They stuck together and helped the other to the best of their ability. Over the course of this time Yao managed to become an object of teasing among the cocky students. Due to his feminine looks and foreign decent people would call him degrading things. Now that Yao was better at english he recognized some of these terms like "homo" and "commie".

Yao noticed Ivan had his faults as well. He was the type of person who believed violence is the answer. Whenever someone made him angry he would Keep smiling even though it was obvious he was pissed. If the person pressed on, they often received a fist to the face or worse. Yao was willing to bet a hefty sum of money that his terrifying reputation was the reason Ivan's classmates were terrified of him.

Yao didn't mind the Russians' violent tendencies. Not once had Ivan hurt him so Yao felt there was no need to worry about his own safety. It was Ivan's safety he worried about. Ivan managed to get himself into lots of fights and never resolved any of them.

There were even a few instances where Ivan would get badly hurt in one of these fights. One time Yao found Ivan after a fight with a black eye and multiple scratches on his face and arms. Yao's protective instincts kicked in and he dragged the bigger student to his home.

Yao's mother asked who he brought home and Yao told her it was Ivan. Her eyes widened in recognition to the name and she told Yao a few things. Ivan, being unable to understand mandarin, stood by.

Yao brought Ivan to his room once his conversation was over and sat the other student down on his bed. Yao spoke a monologue in Chinese and though Ivan couldn't understand him, he had a feeling he was being scolded. Yao left the room for a moment then came in with a box of band aids and an icepack.

"Use." Yao said as he held the icepack to Ivan. The Russian placed it over his eye and inhaled sharply as the cold pack came into contact with his injury. Yao opened the pack of band aids and took a few out. Each one had Hello Kitty print on it. He placed them on Ivan's deeper cuts and Ivan made an upset face.

"Hello Kitty is good. Deal with it." Yao said. Ivan was impressed and a little amused by how much lingo Yao had caught on to.

When Yao was done With that he began to fix Ivan's hair to make him presentable once more.

Yao's mother entered the room and said some things to Yao. Her son nodded then left the room.

"Hello Ivan. I would like to speak to you." she said, converting to English once Yao left. Her voice held a thick accent and Ivan had trouble understanding her. He nodded to signal that it was fine. He hoped it would be quick, authority figures made him nervous; anyone in a higher position of power than him was a threat.

"Don't worry I just have a few things I have to ask you about. I told Yao to do some of his chores while we talk so he wouldn't feel confused." she stated. Ivan nodded politely. The mother sat on the bed next to Ivan and folded her hands in her lap.

"Yao talks about you a lot." she continued, "He told me you can barely understand each other though. If you never speak to each other how did you become friends?"

Ivan shrugged. "It just happened. I can't really explain it."

"Ever since he met you Yao has been trying even harder to learn English. One day you may be able to have an actual conversation."

Ivan nodded again. He actually wasn't sure if he would like Yao to learn English though. If Yao was able to understand Ivan he would probably find him odd. Also, what would they talk about? Their attempts at conversations were already awkward enough.

He knew it was a selfish wish of his. Yao would be much better off If he could understand everyone, yet his fear of making Yao think poorly of him was too great.

Yao's mother stood up and smoothed out the wrinkles on her skirt. "I'll send Yao back in if you want." she said. Ivan nodded once again.

She left the room and Yao reentered soon after. There wasn't very much they could do together without speaking though. Yao and Ivan had to settle with sitting next to each other and doing their homework.

Yao lay his head on Ivan's shoulder as they worked, but Ivan decided not to think much of it. He oddly didn't mind it at all.

* * *

"Are you cold Yao?" Ivan asked his friend on the way to school. They both took the same route to school each morning and today was significantly colder than most days. Ivan always dressed as if it was cold so he was prepared, but Yao only had a thin jacket to protect himself.

Yao nodded once he figured out what Ivan had said. Ivan unwrapped the scarf he wore and placed it around Yao's neck.

"Thank you." Yao said softly. His cheeks tinged a light pink color. Ivan smiled at Yao and took his hand. The smaller boys face turned a deeper shade and he retracted his hand as if Ivan were made of fire. Ivan, now realizing he had done something wrong, stepped away from Yao and mumbled an apology.

"Ivan..." Yao muttered barely loud enough for the other to notice.

Ivan looked at Yao and nodded for him to go on.

"I..." Yao stopped and struggled to think of the words to say. His English was still terrible and he could barely say more than three complete sentences in a row now. His face was flushed but he felt he needed to get this off his chest now. With how red Yao's face already was he felt Ivan would be able to figure out what he was going to say before he could remember the words.

"Wo ai ni... I love you." Yao declared. Ivan was taken back by Yao's confession.

Due to the lack of a response, Yao looked forward again and walked off; face red and his pace quick.

"Wait!" Ivan called out to Yao. He sped up to Yao's side and grabbed his shoulder. The smaller boy turned back towards Ivan with wide eyes. This was Ivan's chance. Time to make the best of it.

"I feel the same way, Yao! I didn't say anything because I felt really uncomfortable with my feelings though and I thought you would never want someone like me... You probably understood none of what I just said though."

Yao looked back at him in confusion, proving Ivan's last statement.

in order to get his point across, Ivan leaned down brushed his lips on to Yao's and held him into a gentle kiss. Yao's eyes were wide with shock, but he soon adjusted to the unique feeling and let himself melt to Ivan's touch.

When they broke apart Yao gave Ivan a loving smile. Ivan's heart fluttered and he took Yao's hand once more.

To them, the language barrier did not matter for there are no words that can describe love.


End file.
